Approximately, 15 percent of American teenagers are seriously overweight, and an additional 5 percent is obese while more than 20 percent are over the maximum recommended weight for their height. Obesity rarely begins in adolescence, but often becomes more pronounced in the teenage years. Why? Basal metabolism rate (the rate at which the body burns up calories) drops by about 15 percent in adolescence. Add to this the fact that teenagers have easier access to fast foods and snacks than children do, and the results of poor eating habits developed in childhood are magnified.
Experts used to trace obesity to psychological causes: People became fat because they ate to fill unmet psychological needs. Current thinking holds that obesity is more a medical than a psychological problem. Many people become obese because their bodies burn calories at a slower than normal rate, not because they gorge themselves. Because of their body chemistry, they accumulate more and larger fat cells than people of normal weight. It is also much harder for them to lose weight or to keep weight off. The tendency to become obese is at least in part hereditary.
What to Do
Virtually, all overweight teenagers want to trim down. The problem is, they don’t know how. There are many good weight management programs for overweight children and teenagers. Most combine diet with self-awareness training (realizing when and why you eat), behavioral change (such techniques as putting down your fork between bites or walking around the block before you have a snack), and peer support. Unfortunately, 50 to 70 percent of teenagers who lose weight on these programs regain the unwanted pounds when the program stops. For this reason, most experts agree that weight management must begin at home.
How can Parents Help? Parents should Not.
- Constantly call attention to the teenager’s weight. The adolescent knows all too well that she is fat and doesn’t need to be reminded. Don’t talk about the adolescent’s weight, unless she brings it up first.
- Berate the young person for being fat. Nagging will only deepen the overweight adolescent’s feelings of unworthiness and self-distrust.
- Insist that the adolescent go on a highly restrictive diet and count her every bite. External controls on overeating don’t work. Overweight adolescents have to learn to control their own eating.
Parents should encourage sensible eating and exercise patterns for everyone in the family. Start by limiting the amount of high caloric, high fat, high-sugar foods and snacks you keep around the house. Remember, other family members, even those who are not overweight, will not be deprived by having decreased access to foods that aren’t good for them. Your goal should be to discourage overeating, not to deprive or shame the overweight child. In her column, “Personal Health,” Jane Brody writes:
- Serve the same foods to the entire family rather than preparing special foods for the child with the weight problem. Be sure to include foods the child likes.
- Do not eliminate any category of food. Rather, substitute lean meats for fatty sausages, ribs, or steaks; broil or bake chicken and fish rather than fry it.
- Don’t ban high-calorie treats, especially at social occasions where everyone else is indulging. Depending on what your child loves most, you might suggest that two cookies. . . a small candy bar or ice cream be the dessert or snack once a week.
- Many youngsters (and adults) with weight problems do not overeat, but rather under-exercise. A heavy child might not fare well in competitive and team sports but could shine in individual activities like cycling, skating, swimming, jumping rope, jogging, hiking or weight-training. Encourage children to walk rather than ride whenever feasible. Plan some physically active family outings for weekends.
- Help [your] child develops hobbies that can keep the hands busy and the mind off food.
- Above all, be sure to let your children know that they are loved and appreciated no matter what their size and shape.
Many overweight adolescents are tempted by crash diets that promise miracle results. These should be discouraged. A teenager might lose 10 pounds on a two-week liquid diet, but this won’t teach her how to eat sensibly under normal conditions. In addition, severe dieting may increase the appetite and lower the metabolism rate, making further or sustained weight loss more difficult.
A Realistic Goal is Losing About 2 Pounds a Week.
Most experts recommend a combination of diet and exercise. Not stopping for a burger, fries, and a shake several times a week, eating sensible meals and snacks, walking the half-hour to and from school at a good pace, and doing forty-five minutes of strenuous exercise three times a week should lead to slow but steady weight loss. To a teenager who needs to lose 30 pounds or more, a loss of 2 pounds may seem unnoticeable, and a diet extending over many months, impossible. Help the adolescent set specific goals for the not-too-distant future returning to school after summer vacation 20 pounds lighter, or losing 15 pounds before Christmas and shopping in the regular junior, not the “chubby,” department for a size 13 or 11 dress.
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